The most helpful favorable review

The most helpful critical review

2,421 of 2,466 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 starsCuisinart upgraded the Griddler, and it's better than ever
I bought a G4 Griddler from Amazon in 2005, and used it a couple of times a week (at least) until it had to be put out to pasture in 2010 due to failure of the non-stick coating on the plates. (The coating started to bubble and peel, and no one wants that in their food...) I loved it. (See my review of the Cuisinart GR-4 Griddler Stainless-Steel 4-in-1 Grill/Griddle and...

I bought a G4 Griddler from Amazon in 2005, and used it a couple of times a week (at least) until it had to be put out to pasture in 2010 due to failure of the non-stick coating on the plates. (The coating started to bubble and peel, and no one wants that in their food...) I loved it. (See my review of the Cuisinart GR-4 Griddler Stainless-Steel 4-in-1 Grill/Griddle and Panini Press) It was still working great, but replacement plates were not available.

I was elated when offered the opportunity to review its smarter younger brother, the GR-4NAM Griddler. I could hardly wait for it to get here and run it through its paces.

At first glance, the GR-4NAM looks virtually identical to the G4. However, closer inspection reveals that it has been totally redesigned, and for the better.

Improvement: The grease catcher used to be a little cup that had to be set under a spout on the side of the bottom plate. If it was positioned incorrectly, (or forgotten about), greased dripped out on the counter. The grease catcher is now integrated into the Griddler as a drawer-like device that can be pulled out to clean, and then put back in place for the next use.

Improvement: The original G4 had two sets of plates - one flat set, one ridged set (for paninis). There is now one reversible set of plates (ridged on one side, flat on the other), and therefore no need to find a storage place for the plates not in use. The new plates have a good substantial weight. I don't have the old ones here for comparison, but the quality of the plates certainly was not cheapened.

Improvement: It used to be a little tricky to put the plates in place and to remove them. There was also a difference between the top plate and the bottom, so you had to be careful not to try to put them in the wrong way. The plates now have an identical shape, so they are interchangeable, and the release buttons activate a spring-loaded mechanism that pops the plate loose for easy removal.

Now, to see how it cooks: The Griddler takes about as long to warm up as a good-quality waffle iron. Just when you start to get impatient with it, it's ready.

The first thing that I cooked was a no-no in the eyes of Cuisinart - a bone-in, skin-on leg and thigh chicken quarter. Too thick, they say. HA! says I, because I am a bit of an anarchist. I marinated the chicken in olive oil and rosemary, heated the Griddler to Medium. I cooked it on the panini plates because I love those little fake barbeque stripes across my food. It worked just fine. (I should have taken a picture, it came out looking beautiful. But I was hungry.)

Word of warning: Do not cook thick or fatty meat on High - you will get grease spatters all over the place. Medium works just fine in such instances.

I discovered from my old Griddler that when cooking meat it's best to turn off the heat before it's done, and let it finish cooking with the residual heat in the plates. That way the meat does not get overdone.

For clean-up, I let the plates cool down, and then put a wet paper towel across the bottom plate and close the lid and let it sit for a while. The dampness softens anything that is stuck to the plates, and then it can be easily washed off with a sudsy sponge or dish wand.

Today for lunch, I made myself a sandwich with sliced sourdough bread, cooked sliced chicken breast, fresh grated parmesan cheese and dried basil. I followed the panini directions in the small cookbook that comes with the Griddler. Well, I sort of followed the directions... Cuisinart recommends brushing the outside of the sandwich with olive oil. I prefer to use melted butter on panini because it makes the sandwich crisper.

I preheated the Griddler on High, placed the sandwich inside, and applied light pressure for about 30 seconds, and then let it cook. The directions say to cook panini for about 4 -5 minutes, but my sandwich was ready to eat in 2 minutes. Maybe the butter makes the bread brown faster than olive oil.

In any case, it was beautiful - evenly browned, crunchy and delicious, and I did take a picture (see product images).

How durable will the GR-4NAM be? Good question. From everything that I can see so far, Cuisinart has only made the Griddler better. But time is the real test of quality. I will report back from time to time regarding durability.

Right now, I'd say this looks like an excellent buy.

UPDATE, January 2011:

The Griddler is still in great shape. Granted, I am not using it as frequently as I did my original one, but that's because there are fewer mouths to feed in my household now than there used to be. I have no cautionary tales to add to the review. Hmmm... I think I'll go make a grilled cheese sandwich....

Additional thought: Do not spray the non-stick plates with Pam or similar non-stick coating. I did not realize that this was not a good idea until I purchased some high-end non-stick cookware, and the manufacturer stated that doing so may leave a residue on the coating that destroys the non-stick properties.

I have tried the Villaware Uni panini grill, the Delonghi open countertop grill and another panini type grill (approx $90), and returned them all (ouch, those return shipping charges hurt). I never considered the Geroge Foreman grills because they always felt cheaply made to me, not to mention many unfavorable reviews).

None of the grills/panini presses that I tried got hot enough to work well for me. They just did not grill as much as steam,bake cook the food, and they all took a longer time to do so than I was willing to wait.

I never was bothered by cleanup, though. I always just wipe the hot plates with wet paper towel, let it then cool a bit, and wash with wet sponge. Works on them all.

So I just gave up and bought some stovetop grill pans and have used them for the past year or so. They do get as hot as you want but you do have to turn the food to cook both sides.

Being a kitchen appliance junkie, I decided to try the Cuisinart Griddler this year.

I love the size (great for just 2 people, though) as I do not anticipate using it in the full open position. And it is handsome as handsome can be to me. Very commercial looking on a very small scale. (I was chef/owner of a restaurant for 13 years.)

And cleanup is easy. Although I still use the wet paper towel and sponge for immediate cleanup, the removable plates (very easy to take off and put back on) make washing in sink or dishwasher other options, Although the plates are nonstick, it is best to use vegetable spray or oil on the food (I prefer this rather than spraying the whole plate.)

There are 3 controls--griddle temperature selector, on/off to select either griddle or panini/grill, and panini/grill temperature selector. There is no timer so there is a small learning curve to learn when your food is cooked. Expect to overcook many things at first as the griddler really cooks quickly.

There's a short electrical cord, about 34" usable length. Solid construction. Hinged top does settle squarely on the food. Because there the griddler is flat with no slope like the Foreman and other grills, vegetables will not roll off or toward the front.

It takes about 5 minutes to preheat and then, wow, it really grills. Salmon took just 3 minutes. I overcooked my halved zuchinni in just a few minutes.

You can hear the instant sizzle sound but don't go to far away as it cooks more quikly than you might be used to.

We don't eat fatty meats (like burgers) so I cannot comment on the grease/drip factor but with fish, seafood, chicken and vegetables, there is absolutely no splatter.

It can cool down quickly if left open, a disadvantage while cooking but an advantage for cleaning.

Again, the most important factor for me was how hot the grill got (and quickly as well) This, of course, leads to perfect grilling on both sides.

We have had this product for over 1 year. This product has a few of great features:

1. The interchangeable nonstick plates that are dishwasher safe.2. The unit opens up to a large griddle.3. The cooking plates are dishwasher safe.

However, the nonstick surface has started peeling off of the plates even though the plates have never been abused, and we have never used metal utensils on them.

Our biggest complaint is the thermostat. The unit will reach the desired temperature, and then turn off. The cooking plates will actually cool off so much that the food will stop cooking. The thermostat will then kick back on and take about 3-5 minutes to get back up to temperature. It is very annoying, and doesn't always produce good results with food.

There also is a large temperature difference between the two plates when the unit is opened as a large griddle. This causes items being cooked to finish at different times.

This could have been a great product, but Cuisinart seems to have gone "cheap" in areas that are integral to the function of the griddle. I would not purchase this item again.

Improvements over previous model are the reversable grill plates that snap in and out very easily and now you do not have 2 extra plates to store somewhere. The grease catch pan is integrated into the bottom and removes very easily for cleaning. Cleanup is a snap: take off the 2 grill plates and they wash and cleanup so easy I don't bother putting them in the dishwasher. Clean the drip tray and you are done. Fast & easy.I disagree with those that say it is great for cooking small meals or for a small family. It cooks the meat so fast, you better not walk away. First thing I cooked were good sized hamburgers & they were at 180° in 5 minutes. The next 4 were perfectly cooked at 4 minutes. Used the Sear setting per the instruction book with the grill preheated. New York Strip sirloins were done in 3 1/2 to 4 minutes on the Sear setting. Fast cooking & the meat is eye appealing with the grill marks on both sides. Batch number 3 will be pork chops tonight.Granted, it doesn't quite do the job my Weber grill does outside, but when it is 15 below zero, the Griddler is very nice to have for indoor winter usage.

After reading all the reviews, I bought this over any other brand and I've not been disappointed! It cooks FAST! Nearly overcooked my first batch of boneless skinless chicken breasts the very first time I used it.

After using only two times, I have some tips for the people who had a huge spatter mess, plus other tips:1. Buy leaner hamburger--I used 16% fat (not my favorite one to use) & the mess was very minimal. If you use regular grind hamburger you're going to get a lot more grease mess.2. Turn the heat down a little so it doesn't pop & sizzle so much.3. Make sure your work surface is level!! Most countertops and/or stovetops are not as level as the day they were first installed (maybe they never were). If need be, put something under the leg(s) to make it level. Grease running out the back is not the fault of the appliance, it's a level surface issue.4. If doing more than one cooking round, as I did, you need to scrape the "drippings" off & since you can't do that with the supplied plastic scraper tool (I tried once & got some melted plastic on grill, but came right off with washing), buy a "SwitchIt" by Chef'n. It's silicone & won't melt on your grill. Use the narrow end. This takes a few minutes to do, but it won't smoke so bad on multiple cooking rounds. I have yet to come up with anything better to clean off the hot grill slots.5. Clean plates up in hot, soapy water with a Scotch Brite No Scratch Scrub Pad (the wavy blue one). It was what was recommended for my glass cooktop, so I know it doesn't scratch.6. Make sure meats/veggies, etc. are all same thickness. If they're not, the upper grill plate will contact the thickest one, but not the thinest. Depending on meat, you can use a meat mallet & make cuts of meat more uniform. If cooking more than one round, you can "pair up" like thicknesses.

In short, with a few simple precautions listed above, I am most impressed with this appliance. How long the non-stick surface will last is anybody's guess--only time will tell. I wish they had joined up with Swiss Diamond & put their fused, diamond non-stick on (check it out people--best nonstick on the market! Safe for dishwasher & metal utensils & lifetime warranty & they mean every word).

Only one thing I would change about the design of this appliance: a higher lip at the back. I have found that when trying to remove food off the grill it will slide to the rear & fall off when trying to use a silicone turner. My solution: buy a pair of silicone coated tongs to remove food instead of a nylon or silicone turner. It should work better.

All the products mentioned above can be found right here on this website.

Happy (& healthier) grilling all!

1/10/2008 Update: Still going great and I do use it regularly, especially in late fall, winter & early spring. I have read some other reviews where the non-stick bubbled or peeled off, but this hasn't happened to mine...not even a scratch mark on the plates. And I have used it many, many times on the highest grill setting: sear.

This griddler rocks! The first day I had it we made panini sandwiches.. yummy! they were perfect! Then, having read the one review on here and seeing the splatter photos I wanted to try some meat on the griddler myself. So I cooked burgers on it. These were thick steack burgers and they grilled to perfection on this griddler! There was no splatter mess at all, the drip cup worked great and, even better, cleanup of the griddler itself was a snap. Perhaps the reviewer who had issues had the griddler on too high, I dont know. But I've had no problem at all. Tonite we're making steaks on it!

Good for a small kitch with limited storage space. I wanted a griddle for pancakes and a grill/panini press for sausage and sandwiches. This is the only applicance I have found online or in stores that offers the combination of both applicances without stripping features.

It has temperature control of the griddle which is good for pancakes and the grill has low medium high settings. For some competing products there is no temperture control at all.

The biggest buy factor is that this product allows you to change BOTH surfaces (top and bottom). Others presses that claim to convert to griddles and lay flat, only allow you to switch out one side, resulting in only half the griddle space for pancakes.

I have experienced good temperture control and even heating with both surfaces in both flat and folded positions.

The surfaces are easy to remove for cleaning. And they snap in place easily if you make sure the surface is slipped under the two visible prongs before snapping down.

One con: The cord is short, only 3 feet, making it unrealistic for table use without an extention cord.

The knobs seem cheap to me for a device costing $129. But the performance I bought it for is there. Plus there is a preheat light on the knobs. A nice unexpected add.

One nice feature is that all four surface parts (2 grill, 2 griddle) have rims around the parameter with a notch for liquids to drain out the front right corner. So it does not matter which surface you snap where. But you must remember to put a small bowl or saucer under this notch to catch grease if you are pressing sausage links for example.

Cuisinart is always more expensive than other brands that work just as well. However none of the other brands match the versatility right now.

I have no complaints in performance or user friendliness. And considering the alternatives it is the best 2 in 1 griddle/grill I can find after much search.

I purchased the griddler as a Christmas (2006) present for my husband. Initially, he was thrilled. It worked better than we had anticipated. Our love affair with the griddler, however, was EXTREMELY short lived. By late January, it had begun to "act up." It would occasionally and unpredictably turn itself off. Not long after that, the griddler began shutting itself off every time the temperature was turned above "warm." Though I was shocked at how quickly the item broke, I was still optimistic. After all, "lemons" happen from time to time. I emailed Cuisinart asking what I needed to do to make a claim on the warranty. TWO WEEKS LATER, I received a response telling me to call or email with the model and serial number of the bottom of the unit. Given that their initial email response took so long, I called and was left on hold for over 30 minutes. When I finally reached a surly customer service representative, she informed me that they would send me a new unit for $10. I asked why I had to pay $10 when their unit was defective and was informed that it was a limited warranty. She told me that I should have read the warranty before purchasing the unit. I was further instructed to package the unit up with my contact info and a claim number the representative provided me. After they receive the unit and payment, they will send a replacement. Apparently, there was no way to tell me how long this might take. This experience has ensured that I will never purchase a Cuisinart product again and I thought I'd let others know about my experience in case they too do not like defective products and terrible customer service.

Edited to add: Two problems: This griddle is essentially unusable when grilling meat, because the temperature cycles up and down too much and at times gets low enough that the meat actually stops cooking, due to the thermostat clicking on and off. Additionally, it has hot spots and cold spots, the distribution of the heat is not uniform. So I am lowering my rating from four stars to three. Other than that ..... [9/5/10]

ETA: I recently tried the Frigidaire Professional Panini Grill, and found it fixed most of the problems described below, so if you are looking for a grill/griddle appliance, you may want to check out other brands. 11/12/12

There are lots of details about this grill that are not given in the description, including a few puzzles. Overall, this is a fine and useful grill. I like the reversible plates and found them easy to flip and clean. It seems well balanced and easy to manipulate, and doesn't seem to take too long to heat up.

However, from what I can tell, both side knobs do the very same thing!!! When on the Griddle setting, the left knob is labeled from 200-425 degrees. When on the Panini setting, the right knob is labeled from Warm to Sear. But why not just have a single knob, that ranges from "200/Warm" to "425/Sear"? I think by having lot of knobs, it is giving the impression that it is some sort of advanced subtle piece of gourmet foodie equipment that does more than it actually does (more costly to manufacture, more to break, and an insult to the consumer). This grill is nothing more than a hot surface with a temperature dial !! (Actually, before I tried it out, I thought the different settings were for single grill / double grill. I mean, why heat up both sides if I am just using one side with the lid up?)

The product description was vague on some aspects of how to use the grill, so here is what I figured out:- when turned on, the center knob shows a red light, and both sides are heated (no single side setting - I suppose if I only want a single side, a frying pan on the stove is easier);- the side knobs have a green light when the surfaces are near the desired temperature setting (within 20 degrees of top temp when first heating, and once heated, the green light is on when the temp is about 10 degrees from target);- once target temperature is reached, the temperature can drop over 20 degrees (green light off) before the heat clicks back on and target temperature is reached again (green light back on);- the lid pivots on an axle across the center of the lid (where the handle attaches), so that the lid can be level no matter how high the food is (within reason), or sloped if short food is on one side and tall food on the other;- the actual cooking area is a bit smaller than there overall stated dimensions, the griddle is 8-7/8 by 11-1/4 inches; the grill area is less because the ridges don't extend as far (1/2 to 1 inch away from the edge).- the closest the griddle plates get to one another is about 5/8 inch, so that is the thinnest something could be pressed;- the ridges of the grill plates get to about 1/8 inch from each other;- there are grease outlets on the hinge side of each plate for grease to drip into a little grease drawer, and the plates have a very slight slope towards these outlets (1-3 degrees), but this slope is so slight that grease doesn't flow that easily, and you might need to slightly prop the non-hinge sides if you are interested in getting grease to flow (as in the Forman grill);- the handle is some sort of non-metal that doesn't get hot when the stainless does;- only the lid is stainless steel on the top, while the bottom and a few other components appear to be some sort of hard material that could be a high temperature plastic;- the cord is only 35" long.

Finally, when I measured the temperature of the griddle with my surface grill thermometer, I got rather cooler temperatures than what was said on the temperature setting. My grill surface thermometer may not be calibrated correctly, but this was farther off than I expected, though it certainly felt hot enough to cook effectively. But also, the Panini setting has a cooler low and a hotter high than the Griddle knob, which demonstrates that each dial does have its own thermostat (and which are not calibrated the same, unless there is a design purpose I haven't figured out to have one knob heat the appliance hotter & cooler than the other knob).

I'm a single guy living in NYC and was looking for an easy-to-use appliance to make quick, delicious food. I could not be more pleased with this purchase. With a bare minimum of prep, I've made delicious paninis, burgers, steaks, ham and eggs, and pancakes, among other things.

The designers thought of everything when putting this together. The reversible non-stick cooking surfaces on either side are easy to switch and simple to clean. The top adjusts simply to any thickness for whatever you may be cooking, whether a flat panini or a thick steak, and provides and even heat on both top and bottom.

My favorite thus far has been to take a whole wheat sandwich roll brushed with olive oil, add a few basil leaves, roasted peppers, sopressata and provolone, and within 3-4 minutes I have a truly delicious panini cooked perfectly throughout. Once when I was stuck with no bread, I improvised and piled cheese atop roasted peppers and roast chicken pieces on the flat surfase and closed the top. The cheese melted and browned beautifully and when it came time to take my creation off the griddle, it didn't stick at all to either surface and I was left with a beautiful bachelor's special. I've also open the griddle completely and cooked fried eggs with salami and pimentos on one side and pancakes on the other (again, neither stuck at all and everything was simple to flip).

The only complaints I have are as follows:

- When it heats up, the whole unit gets quite hot (except for the handle) so you just need to be careful not to accidentally touch the top/sides.

- The edges to the removable cooking surfaces are not quite raised high enough so really juicy foods may drip/splatter over the edge a bit (it helps to ever-so-slightly tip the unit back so that the juices run towards the drip spout)

Other than that, I really appreciate the quality of the unit, the size/design, the ease-of-use and the price. Strongly recommend.